The present invention relates to a cover for protecting a silicon chip device, such as a silicon chip device made up of a special packaging, for example, one involving tape automated bonding (TAB) for a central processing unit (CPU) chip used in a workstation system and a method of assembling the cover over the chip device and on a printed circuit board (PCB).
The packaging of TAB chip devices have cost and performance benefits in certain cases over commonly employed through hole and surface mounted packaging and are very desirable for certain special high performance, density and power chips, which have a very high number of leads arranged extremely closely adjacent each other. The use of tape automated bonding, however, makes it highly desirable, if not necessary in certain cases, to protect the very fragile leads that run from the body of the chip device to the printed circuit board and the lead connections with the board.
This protection is desirable during processing of the TAB chip device after the chip device has been secured to its board. In providing such protection in the form of an attachable cover member the design must allow for cooling of the chip device, permit easy removal for reworking of the chip device, be quickly and securely mountable and removable, require no soldering for securement to the printed circuit board, and allow easy visual inspection of the chip device from above the device.